Give Thanks For Old Craft Books

Submitter: Here’s a groovy book about Thanksgiving. Miss Berry is a teacher, and she does groovy activities with her class such as pin the feathers on the turkey. The illustrations have some vintage charm, but are not that interesting. The text is kind of dry. Holiday collections are small, and should be filled with current books (or appropriate and interesting classics) that kids want to read.

Holly: “Vintage charm” is one way of putting it. Or, old, dirty, uninspired, irrelevant, lame… In the age of Pinterest, craft books like this are less useful. Yes, yes, we still buy craft books for children in public and school libraries. We’re not going to stop. In fact, it’s one of the biggest parts of the youth 700s in my library. Kids (and parents and teachers) love ’em! I guarantee they’re more interested in something from this decade than they are in “vintage charm.” That said, if you have the space, create a “vintage” collection or display. How cool would that be? Right? It’s all about context.

Our library is beginning a big weeding project – the craft section got a bunch of new books – stuffed right in beside books older than this one. But that the adult shelves. I’m afraid to look in the Children’s Room.

I bought this book at Goodwill several years ago – I love awful library books. I suppose it was just then being weeded. Give it to a thrift shop or library sale for someone like me to get a nostalgia kick from. Most of today’s kids will automatically sense it’s old and won’t give it a chance.